Mama's Last Hug by Frans de Waal

 

A lot of the nonfiction I have read over the years is about animals. In particular, I like to read about animals that are intelligent, like chimpanzees, dolphins, elephants, and octopuses. There's just something about smart creatures that fascinates me. When I saw Mama's Last Hug on a display at Barnes and Noble, I knew that I had to pick it up. Like many, I had seen the viral video of the elderly chimp named Mama who perked up and embraced a scientist she had known for forty years as she lay dying. Her actions in the video seem to clearly express love and joy, emotions that are supposed to belong to humans. A few years ago, I read Beyond Words by Carl Safina, so I was already familiar with the idea that animals experience many emotions like humans do, but I was still interested to learn more. Accordingly, I made Mama's Last Hug one of the books in my True Books Challenge for this year. I decided to give it a try this month and see if it would be as interesting as I hoped.

Frans de Waal begins this novel by outlining his strong belief that animals and humans experience the same emotions. He explains that emotions are different from feelings; emotions are automatic responses to different situations and feelings are how we privately react to those emotions. Emotions are observable and can be studied. Thus, it is possible to recognize and analyze how animals show them.  The book is divided into several sections, each focusing on a different concept, including joy, empathy, guilt, and grief. In each chapter, de Waal discusses how both humans and animals display the emotions being discussed and backs up his assertions with examples from scientific studies and observations drawn from his own experiences. Throughout the course of his analysis, it becomes clear that animals live rich, emotional lives, and that they are not as far separated from humans as we may think.

Despite my interest in this subject matter, Mama's Last Hug was not a particularly fun read. It wasn't terrible, and Frans de Waal clearly knows his stuff, but something about it just didn't come together for me. Mainly, I thought that the chapters were a bit unfocused and too heavy on the philosophizing. I found myself wanting more detailed content on animals. Instead, most of the writing consisted of de Waal making his case about emotions. Information about animals was only lightly sprinkled in among his thoughts. I wish it had been the other way around. As it was, I was frequently bored while reading.

Also, there were a few instances where I thought de Waal's ideas were overly simplified, or outdated. For example, in a chapter focusing on power, he makes the claim that women in politics only become electable after they reach menopause. He states that, "women begin to appeal as leaders only after they have become invisible to the male gaze by leaving their reproductive years behind." He cites examples such as Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel to support this point, but he completely ignores the success of women like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jacinda Ardern, who are both younger, attractive, and successful leaders. As this book came out in 2019, there's no excuse for these omissions, and I think it's safe to say that the reasons young women are underrepresented in politics are more complex that he suggests. He goes onto say that women did not support John McCain in the 2008 election because they subconsciously perceived Sarah Palin as a sexual rival. I am a woman and it's true that I did not support John McCain in the 2008 election, but I'm pretty confident that it wasn't because I felt sexually threatened by Sarah Palin. This kind of assertion really sells women short and feels hopelessly out of touch. There were a few more instances like this that popped up and left a bad taste in my mouth. It was very clear that an older man was writing this text. 

So unfortunately, Mama's Last Hug was not my favorite read. Carl Safina's Beyond Words handled the same topic in a much more engaging way and I would definitely recommend that book over this one. Still, I did pick up a few interesting bits of information during my reading and came away from the experience feeling more connected to the animal world. It's too bad that I was left wanting more. This book is headed to my donate pile. Hopefully, someone else out there will enjoy it more than I did.

Challenge Tally

True Books 2020: 11/14


Total Books Read in 2020: 59

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

It seems that I've hit a bit of a reading roadblock lately. As my husband and I prepare to move across the country, I'm finding it hard to keep my mind on a book and stick to a reading schedule. Resigning from my current job, working on obtaining certification in Connecticut, and saying goodbye to all my friends and family is weighing on me right now. I usually find comfort in reading, but my mind has been racing a mile and minute this month and I'm struggling to focus.

Despite my worries, I've finally managed to finish something this week. I'd been wanting to read In the Garden of Beasts for a while now, and with my push to read more nonfiction this year, I thought it was the right time. I read The Devil in the White City, another of Larson's nonfiction novels, a few months ago and enjoyed it, so I went into this one expecting a similar experience - nonfiction that reads like fiction. In this, I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.

The plot concerns William E. Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin in 1933. As the first United States ambassador to Hitler's Germany, he was in a unique position to watch the evolution of the Nazi regime - a government that many people hoped would help pull Germany out of an economic depression and get them back on the right track after WWI. He brought his family along to Berlin with him, and his own recorded experiences, along with those of his daughter Martha, form the basis of the story.

Initially, the family expected to enjoy a grand adventure. Germany at this time was an optimistic and stylish place, and most people assumed that Hitler's government would either fall apart in short order or become more moderate over time. As the Dodd family settled into their new home, their experiences seemed to support this view. Berlin felt like a normal city. However, as Hitler began to consolidate his power, things started to change. Dodd and his daughter became increasingly uncomfortable as they witnessed the growing brutality of the Nazis. Beatings, arrests, suppression of the press, and executions became the order of the day. Despite his best efforts, Dodd was never able to use his position as a diplomat to temper Hitler's government, and his reports back to the United States contained dire warnings about Germany's intentions. President Roosevelt, however, refused to act on this information. He was under intense political pressure to stay out of the affairs of foreign nations and to avoid taking any actions that might cause Germany to default on their loans from the U.S. Eventually, Dodd was removed from his position as ambassador for refusing to be more conciliatory towards Nazi officials, whom he came to view as murderers. He returned with his family to the United States, where he worked steadily to educate the population about what Nazi Germany was really like.

This novel was fascinating and a little infuriating. Its fascination came from the treasure trove of interesting information about how the Nazis were able to rise to power. I didn't know much about this time period beyond the basics you learn about WWII in high school, so I learned a lot while reading. It's clear that Larson did quality, meticulous research in putting this book together, with diary entries and letters from many different people filling out authentic details about the time period. The chapters shift between Dodd's perspective and his daughter Martha's perspective, which provides a nice blend of official, government-style information with more casual, personal-style observations. The story was consistently interesting, which made the reading go relatively quickly.

The infuriating aspect of the book lay in watching so many world leaders stand by doing nothing while Hitler rose to power. What this story proves is that Hitler's government was anything but solid. Paranoia, lies, disorganization, confusion, and sabotage were commonplace. These were not people who had a clear vision and a strategic plan in place from the beginning. The intervention of the United States, or another European nation, could have easily changed the course of history had it come early enough. It was frustrating to see the inaction of other countries, who favored a "let's just cross our fingers and hope its okay" approach rather than standing up for the rights of the oppressed in Germany. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but leaders were given warnings from figures like Dodd while the Nazis were gaining strength, and those warnings were brushed aside. It's a shame. I look at history a little differently now after reading this.

Of course, the parallels between what was going on in Germany and what is going on politically in the U.S. right now were impossible to ignore. We too have a leader who is actively trying to suppress the press and is prone to emotional outbursts. We too have a leader who inspires a fanatical following that believes everything he says, no matter how obviously untrue. We too have a leader that is obsessed with keeping "undesirables" out of his country. While it seems outrageous to suggest anything close to the Holocaust could happen here, we must remember that no one in Germany thought that about Hitler either, and the inaction of those people led to tragedy on an unfathomable scale. It's kind of scary to think about what could come next.

I very much enjoyed In the Garden of Beasts, and would encourage anyone interested in the history of WWII to pick it up. It focuses in on a part of the war that isn't often talked about and answers questions about how someone like Hitler was able to rise to power in a modern, civilized country. This one made a deep impression on me and any book that helps to challenge the way you think about the world is worth a read.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 8/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 11 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 21

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

I love reading books about other books. Of course, those types of novels only cause my to-be-read pile to grow, but I really like seeing the magic that books work on other people. I don't know a lot of people that enjoy reading in my own, day-to-day life, so seeing others describe which books have influenced them makes me feel less alone. They let me know that somewhere out there in the universe, people like me exist. I own lots of "best of" type books that exist purely to list reading recommendations. I also have lots of online lists of recommendations saved to try and read from later. It's basically an obsession at this point. My life mainly consists of reading books, reading articles about books, reading books about books, talking about books, shopping for books, and (occasionally) eating and sleeping.

So, when I spotted Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise at my school's book fair a few years ago, I was instantly intrigued. This memoir promised to be about Ozma's impressive feat of  reading out loud every night with her father from the ages of 9 to 18. I was interested to see what her favorite novels were, compare them with the books I loved as a kid, and see how the stories she shared with her dad strengthened the bond between them. I bought the book and stuck it on my shelf, then ended up never getting around to reading it. With my Clear the Shelves and True Books challenges underway, I decided it was finally time to give The Reading Promise a shot.

The novel begins with Ozma recounting a bit of her childhood and explaining how she started her reading project. Her father was an elementary school librarian and they would read together already on most nights, but one evening, the idea of a reading streak entered Ozma's head. She proposed reading out loud together for 100 night in a row to her dad, and he readily agreed. Once that milestone was reached, Ozma extended the challenge to be 1,000 nights of reading in a row. Once that milestone was reached, the pair just kept on going all the way until she graduated from high school and left for college. The pair never missed a night and ended up reading all sorts of novels together, from old favorites like The Wizard of Oz, to newer selections like The Harry Potter series.

All of this reading forms the background to a series of vignettes about Ozma's life, with events such as her parents' divorce, her grandparents' deaths, her sister leaving for college, and other typical family milestones taking center stage. Her writing flows nicely and is easy to read, and her humorous anecdotes make the pages go by quickly. This is a relatively short read, and an enjoyable way to spend a few afternoons.

What this novel is not, unfortunately, is a book about books. The reading streak is consistently pushed to the background in favor of other family stories that have very little connection to the novels Ozma and her father make their way through. While the books and reading are always there, they aren't a significant part of the story. Few actual titles or opinions about books are even mentioned. What The Reading Promise truly is is a memoir about the life of a very young woman who hasn't undergone anything especially interesting in her life aside from achieving an unusually close relationship with her father. While her writing is nice and her stories are sweet and sometimes touching, this book isn't at all what the cover suggests it will be.

At the end of the novel, Ozma includes a partial list of the novels she read with her father during their streak. I was glad to see this element, but disappointed that it was so incomplete. Ozma explains that they has no idea while they were reading that their project would stretch on so long, so they didn't write down all of the books as they were going. That's completely understandable, but what we're left with is a rather short list that is composed of mostly Judy Blume, J.K. Rowling, L. Frank Baum, Beverly Cleary, and Donald J. Sobol (of Encyclopedia Brown fame). I was hoping for some lesser-known recommendations.

Unfortunately, The Reading Promise just wasn't what I wanted it to be. Based on the cover and summary on the back, I don't feel like I had unreasonable expectations for it. This was described as "the heartwarming, true story of a young woman, her single father, and the power of books." Most of that is true--just not the part of about the books. Books were there, but they did not hold as prominent a place in the story as I was expecting. Ozma's vignettes about her childhood and her dad are undoubtedly charming, but this is not really about reading. Ultimately, I was left wanting more from this one.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 7/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 10 books donated


Total Books Read in 2018: 20

 

True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman

I bought True Notebooks several years ago from Amazon, thinking that it might make a nice addition to my classroom library. This memoir about an author's year teaching a writing class at a juvenile correctional facility in Los Angeles seemed like an inspirational read, and I thought my students might appreciate seeing the writing of other teenagers. When the book arrived, a quick flip through the pages showed me language that was entirely too vulgar for an 8th grade classroom, so I stuck it on my shelf. I figured I'd eventually read it on my own. With my True Books Challenge underway this year, I decided that now was the time.

True Notebooks is a memoir of Mark Salzman's first year teaching a writing course to the inmates at Central Juvenile Hall in East L.A. He is unsure about volunteering at the facility at first, but as he gets to know his students better and reads the work that they produce, he becomes a true believer in the program. The young men that he works with are incarcerated for serious crimes, mostly murders. They are facing very long sentences for their actions. Some of them know that they will never live on the outside again. Writing becomes an important outlet for them to process their feelings and sort through the emotional trauma they have experienced. They write about family members, childhood memories, life in prison, and many other topics, and most of their work is genuinely thoughtful and  moving.

Salzman's chapters are all centered around his visits to the prison and focus on his feelings about teaching there, the affection he develops for many of the boys, and his students' work. Several actual excerpts from the inmates are included, which bring their stories to life for the reader. The boys' words call many troubling questions to mind about the juvenile justice system, racism, and the purpose of prisons. Salzman doesn't attempt to answer these questions or take a political stance on anything. Rather, he raises the issues and leaves it to the reader to ponder. Certainly, there are no easy solutions when it comes to dealing with children that commit criminal acts. It's easy to repeat sayings like, "don't do the crime if you can't do the time," but taking a closer look at the human beings behind the orange jumpsuits muddies the waters a bit.

I picked up this book assuming that it would be another motivational story about teachers, like Freedom Writers or I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had. Those novels show teachers succeeding in the classroom and changing the lives of their students. True Notebooks, as I soon found out, is different. This is not a book with a happy ending. This is not a book where the students overcome their difficulties and go on to have happy lives. The boys in Salzman's class have no futures. They are caught up in gangs or drugs or both. They are serving life sentences or close to it. They will turn 18, get transferred to maximum security adult prisons, and leave their writing class behind. Salzman will only be in their lives for a short time, and there are no guarantees that his writing class will help them with anything. Seeing the boys bare their souls in their writing and then lose their cases and disappear to other prisons was disheartening. At the same time, it was a powerful comment on how our juvenile justice system functions and how poverty and gangs doom children to lives spent behind bars. Despite this heartbreak, the novel as a whole still manages to be a meaningful story. The writing that the boys produce offers a window into a world that most readers have never visited. Their experiences help readers develop empathy for a part of society that is easy to ignore or dismiss. Their stories are still valuable, even if they will be imprisoned for the rest of their lives. This novel is not really about showing a great teacher (even though Salzman is), it is about showing a group of students who, despite incredible disadvantages, refuse to give up.

In the end, True Notebooks was a good read. It was not what I was expecting from a "teacher book," but it gave me an interesting look at a segment of the population that I knew nothing about. I encountered a lot of difficult questions as I read about the justice system and society in general, and while these questions are frustrating to ponder, they are important to think about. The novel wasn't perfect by any means. There were sections where it dragged a bit and sections where I wished for more of a narrative. However, overall, I am glad I got a chance to read the work of the students featured in the story. Salzman did a good thing in teaching these boys and this is a great pick for anyone who teaches or is interested in disadvantaged students.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 6/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 8 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018:16

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City was one of those books that I noticed everywhere, but didn't really know much about. I saw it around in bookstores and on the internet, but as it was nonfiction, I didn't pay much attention. That all changed after I watched American Horror Story: Hotel. This season featured (among other characters) a hotel owner that killed his guests. It was good, creepy fun, but I never for a moment thought that the show was based on anything real. Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only was the hotel owner character actually based on a real serial killer, but that this Devil in the White City book I had been seeing everywhere was actually about that murderer. Intrigued, I picked up a copy so I could learn more. I didn't end up reading it right away, but now that I'm making a conscious effort to read more nonfiction with my True Books Challenge, I decided that now was the time to give it a try.

The novel centers around two very different men living in Chicago during the end of the 19th century. The first, Daniel Burnham, was a prominent architect in the city. The second, H.H. Holmes, was a hotel owner, a swindler, and a murderer. They never knew each other directly, but one major event tied them both together: the World's Columbian Exposition, or world's fair, of 1893. Burnham was the master builder who designed the fair and helped bring it to life. H.H. Holmes was a serial killer who made a pattern of luring young women coming to see the fair to his hotel, where he would kill them in unusual and gruesome ways. Both men's lives centered around the fair for the years of its construction and duration, and this novel tells both of their stories.

Larson alternates his chapters between the two men, giving readers small pieces of their lives with each new installment. The chapters about Burnham show him to be a highly ambitious and talented man. The Columbian Exposition was a massive undertaking, requiring the construction of several buildings, massive amounts of landscaping, the ability to manage huge expenses, and a lot of bureaucratic committee work. The United States was under intense pressure to live up to the glory of the Paris Exposition of a few years earlier, and anything less than perfection would be deemed an embarrassment. Burnham rose to the challenge, overcoming several difficulties along the way. His story isn't as flashy as his murderous companion's tale, but it is, nonetheless, an incredible one.

The chapters about Holmes show him to be a profoundly disturbed individual with an endless capacity for killing. Larson details how he was able to come into money and property through a series of cons, then how he used that money and property to capture and murder his victims. Intelligent, charismatic, and a doctor to boot, Holmes was easily able to convince young women traveling through Chicago to stay at his hotel, then lure them into rooms that he designed himself especially for killing. He used suffocation, chemicals, and other creative methods to dispatch these women, then disposed of their bodies in ingenious ways. For example, he sent some of their corpses to a professional "articulator" to have them turned into display skeletons for doctors, a rare and valuable medical necessity at the time. In this way, he was able to hide some of the bodies in plain sight. He also burned, buried, and dissolved his victims, according to his whims and access to resources. He was able to do all this with remarkable stealth and got away with several crimes before he was finally caught. No one know for sure how many people he killed. Estimates vary from nine people all the way up to 200.

I very much enjoyed reading this novel. It was engaging and entertaining throughout and truly read like fiction. The decision to tell the stories of both men concurrently using the fair as a way to tie them together was very smart, and added an interesting dimension to the novel. The juxtaposition of a builder with a destroyer was almost poetic - the two men lived and worked near each other for quite some time, but their lives were could not have been more different. Hopping back and forth between them was strange, but in a good way.

The Columbian Exposition itself was very interesting to read about as well. The story of Burham's life is largely the story of the fair, so I ended up learning a lot about it. It was such a massive undertaking and it was on such a grand scale that it's difficult to conceive of what it would have looked like in person. Larson does a good job describing the details of the buildings, landscaping, and exhibits-- so good, in fact, I found myself wishing that I could have attended it myself. It's a shame that this event has largely faded from public memory. It was a huge cultural moment for the United States, and it's rarely discussed now. Many inventions and innovations we enjoy today have their roots in it. The electrified third rail for trains, Ferris Wheels, moving walkways, Braille printers, and even souvenir squashed pennies were born out of it. This fair was the first time a lot of people experienced electricity and saw people from other cultures. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event and Larson's writing on it was very informational without drifting into dullness.

My only small issue with the novel was the imbalance of information about Burnham and Holmes. The Burnham chapters were much longer and more detailed that the Holmes ones. I frequently found myself wishing for more information on the disturbing serial killer, and for less on the honorable architect. I assume this was because there was way more information available about the Columbian Exposition than there was about the life of a criminal trying to avoid detection in the 1890s, but I was still a bit bothered by how short some of the Holmes chapters were. This novel was really more about the fair than anything else. However, at the end of the book, when Larson recounts Holmes' arrest and trial, we get a few nice long sections about him. This mostly made up for the lack of information in the earlier portions of the book.

The Devil in the White City is, simply put, excellent. It's nonfiction that is just as exciting and suspenseful as a literary novel, and the fact that it's all true makes it even more intriguing. Larson's work is a nice blend of informational and artistic writing that draws you right into the story and makes you feel like you're taking a trip back in time to 19th century Chicago. I'm glad that I ended up giving it a try. I learned a lot about a part of history that I knew nothing about, and enjoyed myself while learning it. I can't think of higher praise for an informational text than that.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 5/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 9 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018:15

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

I can't remember where I first stumbled onto The Soul of an Octopus, but it's been on my Goodreads to-read list for a long time now. I must have found it online somewhere, because I knew about its existence long before I saw a physical copy. When I did happen to see it sitting on a shelf in a bookstore, I recognized it and bought it right away. That was actually only a few months ago, so it hasn't been sitting on my shelf forever (like most of my unread novels, it seems). I'm reading it now as part of my effort to read more nonfiction in 2018.

The Soul of an Octopus is a different sort of nonfiction book. It is partly scientific, in that it describes several facts about the octopus and presents findings from all sorts of studies about them. It is partly anecdotal, in that its author, Sy Montgomery, tells several stories about encounters she has with octopuses in aquariums and in the wild. It is also partly supposition, in that it includes a lot of guesses about octopus intelligence and consciousness. The blending together of all of these elements results in a book that is educational, accessible, and charming. I personally enjoyed reading it very much, although I can see how some of its less-scientific elements might irk some readers.

Most of the novel concerns stories about Montgomery's interactions with several octopuses at the New England Aquarium. She describes observing, feeding, petting, and playing with the creatures alongside the aquarium's expert staff members. Each octopus she interacts with has its own distinct personality. Some are shy and sweet while others are playful and sneaky. I had no idea before reading this that these creatures would enjoy playing with a human, but now that I know this, I really want to try it for myself one day. Montgomery forms close bonds with these animals, and her observations of their behavior lead her into a lot of musings about how intelligent octopuses truly are. They are certainly more intelligent that people think, but Montgomery goes a bit further than that. She supposes that they are conscious of themselves as individuals, which would place them as one of the most intelligent animal species in the world. She gets a little poetic in her thoughts in these sections, which is where more analytical people might roll their eyes, but overall her thoughts are intriguing to read.

She also spends a fair amount of time imagining how octopuses interpret their surroundings. They have evolved in ways utterly alien to humans. Instead of being built with a head on top, their body is on top of their head. They have most of their neurons in their tentacles and taste through their suction cups. If an octopus wraps it's arm around a human's, it can taste things that are in the human's blood, like medications and hormones. They are truly different creatures from us, and they experience the world in an entirely way. Her descriptions of what it must be like to live like they do are intriguing and cause you to think about the animal in a novel way.

Overall, I learned a lot of facts about the octopus from this novel, and it was consistently interesting throughout. Montgomery's writing is engaging and easy to read. Beyond those qualities, however, there is a lyrical niceness about it. Her enthusiasm and love for animals leaps off each page, and her fascination with her subject is a pleasure to read. I felt happier while reading this. It's nice to both learn something new and get a mood boost at the same time. I know that I'll never look at an octopus in an aquarium the same way again, so I count The Soul of an Octopus as a very worthwhile read. Anyone who has ever been intrigued by these unusual and smart creatures will find a lot to like in it.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 4/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 6 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 12

Flesh & Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin

I first head about Flesh and Blood So Cheap at a school training. The keynote speaker mentioned it as a high-interest nonfiction choice for young adults and used some of the pictures from it in her presentation. I'm always looking for interesting informational texts to use in my classroom, so I ordered it right away. I ended up setting it to the side and forgetting about it as I got busy with other projects. Since I'm making an effort to read all of my nonfiction books this year, I dusted it off and finally gave it a shot this month.

Flesh and Blood So Cheap is the story of the infamous Triangle Factory fire that killed 146 people in 1911. It was one of the most lethal workplace fires in American history until September 11th, yet not many people know much about it. Albert Marrin brings the disaster back to life in this novel, and presents it as more than just an accident. He places it into a larger narrative of immigration, poverty, workplace abuses, and safety reforms that give the reader a more nuanced understanding of the event. This is not a story about a random tragedy--it is a story about an appalling outcome of an abusive and corrupt factory system. It is also the story of how one terrible event provided the catalyst for much needed change and regulation in American industry. 

Marrin opens the text with an explanation of immigration patterns in the United States during the 1900s. Since most of the workers that perished in the Triangle fire were Jewish and Italian immigrants, he pays special attention to describing the reasons that those groups were arriving in America in droves during that time period. He continues on to explain how many of these new workers found jobs in the garment district in New York. The jobs (most of which were held by women) involved long hours of sewing, cutting, or transporting garments with very few breaks and very little pay. Workers were forced into overcrowded factory spaces with inadequate safety measures in place to protect them in case of an accident. Workers united behind unions to strike, and met with only partial success in changing workplace practices.

Eventually, the unsafe working conditions culminated in the Triangle Factory fire.  Marrin explains how a stray cigarette ignited a pile of fabric remnants and quickly spread around the 10th story work space. Terrified workers were unable to extinguish the flames due to the emergency water supply being disconnected. Panicking, people then rushed for the emergency exits only to find some doors locked, other doors blocked, and the fire escapes unusable. Many, seeing no other choice, jumped out of windows to their deaths. Others burned alive in the building. Firemen arrived on the scene within minutes, but their ladders were too short to reach the affected floors. Eventually the fire was contained, but many lost their lives.

The closing chapters of the text describe the legacy that the fire left behind. In the aftermath of the disaster, several leaders began to emerge demanding safety reforms in the workplace. Many of these leaders were women, who began taking on larger roles in the government for the first time. Marrin describes that through their tireless efforts, many new regulations to improve workplaces were created. Little things that we now see as commonplace, like lighted exit signs, working fire escapes, regular fire drills, and automatic sprinklers came into being, saving innumerable future lives. While the Triangle fire was a terrible chapter in American history, it was a force for necessary changes in the workplace.

Marrin's style is striking in its simplicity. He is clear and frank with details, and doesn't sugarcoat the facts. At the same time, however, his writing is always appropriate and accessible to a young adult audience. Accompanying the text are numerous pictures of the relevant people and places from the event, which serve to pull the reader further into the text and lend a deeper sense of gravity to the story. It was nice to be able to match faces and buildings to the names Marrin gives. This was a relatively quick read too, another factor that will attract younger readers. Adults might appreciate a more complex analysis of this event, but this novel is a perfect match with its target audience.

Aside from facts, the novel gives readers a lot to think about as well. Many questions of ethics and morals are raised in its pages--perhaps none as thought provoking as what Marrin explores in the novel's final chapter. He describes how, over time, memories fade and history tends to repeat itself. One only has to look to sweatshops operating overseas to see a shockingly similar pattern of abuses and safety violations to what we had in America before the fire. Different disasters are happening now across the world from us. He warns that constant vigilance is the key to preventing more workplace tragedies. It's a heavy subject to think about, but it's one well worth bringing to the minds of young readers. After all, they will go on to become our leaders one day.

Overall, I enjoyed Flesh and Blood So Cheap. It is an interesting and engaging examination of an often overlooked historical event. Enough background details are given to place the Triangle Factory fire in its proper context without being overwhelming or dry, and the description of the legacy that the fire left behind is inspiring to read. I learned a lot from this novel, and I can see my students learning a lot from it as well. That keynote speaker I enjoyed a few years ago was correct in offering this up as an example of an excellent informational text for use in the classroom. I will be donating my copy to my classroom library in the hopes that one of my kids will pick it up and fall into it the way I did.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 3/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 4 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 10

10% Happier by Dan Harris

10% Happier is another one of the books that my mother loaned me that I'm trying to get through so that I can return them to her. Much like my last read, Born Round, this is a book that I never would have picked up on my own. Its main theme of achieving more happiness, however, definitely appealed to me, so I went into this one hoping to gain some tools I could use in my own life.

10% Happier could best be classified as a part-memoir, part-self-help book. In it, ABC News anchor Dan Harris chronicles how a lifetime of being too hard on himself and making unwise decisions in pursuit of stress relief led to him having an on-air panic attack on Good Morning America. Frightened at this uncharacteristic loss of control, he began looking for ways to calm down and deal with his stress better. His search led him to meditation and the idea of mindfulness. He was very skeptical at first, as he was not a spiritual or religious person, but he decided to give it a try and see what happened. To his surprise, it actually worked for him. He went on to read several books and interview many prominent leaders on the subject, including Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, and even the Dalai Lama. After years of practice and study on the subject, he arrived at the conclusion that meditation is not a magic fix for anyone's problems, but it will make you at least 10% happier if you stick with it, which isn't a bad return on your time investment. The back of the book includes an appendix of resources and tips for anyone interested in trying meditation out for themselves.

This novel was quite entertaining, and I learned a lot from it. Harris writes in a down-to-earth style with lots of self-deprecating humor thrown in, which keeps the tone light. Sometimes his jokes fell a bit flat for me, but most of the time they were spot-on, which kept things from getting too boring. He presents the ideas of mindfulness and meditation in ways that a novice can understand, which made the subject matter feel very approachable. I found it interesting to trace how his evolving experimentation with meditation affected his personal and professional life, which is a unique feature of this text that a regular self-help book wouldn't have.

While reading, I found that my brain does a lot of the same, self-sabotaging things that Harris' brain did to him, like being overly judgemental and obsessing about possible future outcomes for every little thing. Being able to relate to what he was going though made me more engaged in his journey--and more willing to look into meditation for myself. I also appreciated that he included some scientific research to back up the benefits of practicing mindfulness. It definitely helped me to believe in the potential benefits of this philosophy.

The only small issue I had with 10% Happier was that I wasn't always excited to pick it up. It wasn't boring or difficult to understand, but I wasn't rushing home to read it either. As a result, it took me longer than it should have to finish it. Ultimately, however, I'm glad that I read it. I know that the ideas in it will stick in my head for a long time, and it has given me a big push towards trying meditation for myself, which is always something I've wanted to do. I think most people would say that they wanted to be at least 10% happier, and this novel provides a way to achieve that. It was a worthwhile read.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 2/18 + 2 bonus books
Clear the Shelves 2018: 2 books donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 6

Born Round by Frank Bruni

Born Round is another one of the books from the pile my mother loaned me that I have been blogging my way through. This one is a book that I would never have picked up on my own - the memoir of the New York Times former food critic, Frank Bruni. My mom, a lifelong dieter and exercise nut, tends to gravitate towards stories about people struggling with food. She's read quite a few books on the topic and she liked this one well enough to pass it on to me. I was only mildly interested in reading it, but my desire to eliminate the stack of loaners under my nightstand proved stronger than my lack of interest in the topic. I gave it a shot.

In Born Round, Bruni tells the story of his life through the lens of his relationship with food. His Italian heritage and his family's tendency to show their love through elaborate and plentiful meals meant that he was constantly surrounded by food growing up, and he struggled to control his appetite from an early age. As he got older and moved out on his own, his issues with eating grew worse. As a budding journalist, his hectic work schedule meant a lot of days and nights eating at restaurants or grabbing fast food. His weight fluctuated up and down over the years and Bruni tried several different strategies to keep it in check, including fad diets, drugs, an eating disorder, and personal trainers. Nothing he tried stuck for very long though, and his constant fixation on his weight took a heavy emotional toll on him.

Bruni's career in journalism, however, maintained a steady upward trajectory and he was eventually offered the coveted position of food critic for the New York Times. This was both an exciting and daunting prospect for him, as he worried that so many nights eating out in restaurants would send his weight out of control for good. In order to embark on this exciting new opportunity, he had to finally unravel his complicated relationship with food and find a strategy for eating that he could stick with. He was successful in doing this, and while he still has his off-days from time to time, he's managed to overcome being "born round."

This ended up being a fairly entertaining read. Bruni's writing is clever and friendly, and very easy to get wrapped up in. Reading his story is like having a conversation with a friend. It just feels nice, even when he discusses the difficult, emotional parts of his journey. He doesn't shy away from sharing his insecurities and fears, and there's a lot in his personal life that readers can relate to. I found myself nodding in agreement a lot throughout this book, whether it was to his description of his twisted diet logic or his exploration of the shame he felt at having to buy increasingly bigger sizes of pants over time. I've felt similarly about my weight and my difficulty with exercising, so I was right there with him. His descriptions of all the wonderful, calorie-laden meals he's eaten definitely make you hungry though - it's best not to read this one on an empty stomach.

I also found the tidbits about his career interesting, especially towards the end of the novel as he described living the life of a restaurant critic. I didn't know, for example, what great lengths critics have to go to to conceal their identities while dining out. If a restaurant managed to identify Bruni, he had more difficulty getting an accurate view of the service and quality in a place. He had to carry credit cards with fake names and even wear disguises from time to time. I also didn't know how many times a critic generally eats at a restaurant before writing a review. Bruni had to hit places at least three times before rating them, meaning that he was eating out almost every night of the week. I can't imagine living such a life, but it was interesting to read about it.

One small issue I had throughout the book was that Bruni focused so heavily on his food history that some of the major events in his life were oddly glossed over. For example, during the time period he recounts in the story, he published a book on the Catholic church sex abuse scandal that earned him a Pulitzer nomination. This was included in his narration only as a brief recollection after the fact. It felt odd that more time wasn't spent talking about what he went through writing and publishing it. I know that the point of this particular memoir is to focus on Bruni's relationship with food, but omissions like this made his story feel like it had some notable missing pieces.

However, that gripe is a small one. Bruni's memoir was still enjoyable to read and it was quite interesting see how he managed to (mostly) overcome his struggles with food while working as a restaurant critic. His story was very relatable and was told in such a friendly and heartfelt style that you can't help but root for the guy to succeed. This was a pleasant little read.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 2/18 + 1 bonus book
Clear the Shelves 2018: 1 book donated

Total Books Read in 2018: 5

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

I first heard of The Radium Girls through an internet article I read sometime last year. I didn't know anything at all about the subject of this nonfiction novel, but I was instantly intrigued by the short summary I saw. It was about a group of women who worked with radium in the 1920s and the effects that the element had on their bodies. I happened to have a birthday coming up around the time I learned about the book, so I put it on my list and received it as a gift. It's been sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me to pick it up ever since.

Having just finished Radioactive earlier this month, my interest in radium was already piqued. I decided that now was the perfect time to tackle this novel and learn even more about the history of this dangerous and important element. What I ended up discovering was not just an informational text about history and science, but a new favorite novel full of real-life heroes, whose strength and sacrifice made the world a safer place for all of us.

The Radium Girls tells the real-life story of several women working for radium-dial factories in the U.S. during the 1920s. Radium had recently been discovered, and was all the rage during this time period. It was unknown how dangerous radioactivity was to the human body then. People simply thought radium looked really cool, was good for your health, and could have very useful applications in consumer goods. It was added to everything from drinking water to toothpaste, with the promise that it would make buyers look and feel younger. Another popular use for the element was to use its glow-in-the-dark properties to make objects, like watches or military instruments, shine.

The women who worked in radium-dial factories were tasked with painting the numbers on watch dials with radium. Making these glowing watches was very delicate work that required small hands and a light touch, so young women were specifically solicited for these jobs. The women used tiny brushes to apply the paint. In order to produce the fine lines needed to paint accurately on the numbers, they were taught to put the brushes in their mouths and form the point with their lips. Doing this over and over again each day at work led to a lot of radium entering their system, both through their mouths and on their skin. They got a lot of paint on them throughout the course of their workday (no one thought they had to be careful - they were consistently told that radium was a healthful substance), so much so that they glowed in the dark at home. These "radium girls" were quite popular in their communities. Their other-worldly glow was beautiful and they were paid well for their work. Working at a radium-dial factory was considered one of the best jobs a woman could have at the time.

As time went on however, the radium girls started falling ill with mysterious and horrifying maladies. Many lost teeth and suffered terrible jaw infections. Some had trouble with their joints and bones. Others suffered infertility and miscarriages. Some of them began to die, experiencing tremendous pain before passing away. Since their symptoms were all so different, and their medical problems appeared at different times (sometimes years after they had left working at the factories), it took doctors and scientists a long time to figure out that the girls were being poisoned by radium. Many women bankrupted themselves trying to seek medical care for their problems.

Once it was discovered the radium was the culprit behind their illnesses, some of the women tried to sue the radium factories to get compensation for lost wages and medical expenses. In response, the companies engaged in lengthy legal battles with them, denying that radium was a poison. They falsified scientific data and told outright lies to avoid being found guilty of negligence. When it became too obvious that radium was dangerous for them to deny it, they changed tactics and used legal loopholes, like statute of limitations laws, to avoid having to pay out any settlements. The radium girls, many of whom were desperately ill by this point, had to fight a long and hard campaign to prove to world that they were, in fact, poisoned at their jobs and that radium was deadly. Their efforts helped shape U.S. labor laws today and changed the way people handle radioactive elements, which has undoubtedly saved many, many lives.

This novel was beautiful, and that's not something I thought I would be saying about a nonfiction work. Kate Moore takes great care throughout the chapters to focus on the women themselves, rather than on the laws, companies, scientists, or doctors involved. She made each woman mentioned feel like an individual, with their own personalities and desires. This made the story come alive and really underscored the fact that these women were true heroes for their cause. They had to suffer so much and give up all their dreams because of their illnesses. It would have been easy to sink under the weight of that despair and just disappear, but these ladies fought to make themselves heard. Their stories are both terribly sad and very inspirational. The fact that their work lives on in OSHA laws today is a testament to their achievements.

I really learned a lot reading Radium Girls, and I finished it quickly. This read like fiction to me, and I was completely engaged in it from beginning to end. I had no idea that these women existed before reading this book, and that's really a terrible shame. Everyone should know their story, because everyone benefits from their work they did everyday. This is one of those novels I'm going to be recommending to everyone in the coming months; it was just so moving and so good. I'm on a mission right now to cut down on the amount of books I own as I prepare to move later in the year, but The Radium Girls is definitely not going on the donate pile. This is a new favorite for me and is an excellent example of nonfiction that is anything but boring or dry.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 2/18

Total Books Read in 2018: 4

Radioactive by Lauren Redniss

I discovered Radioactive in an article I read online when it was nominated for the National Book Award last year. An illustrated biography of Marie Curie sounded intriguing to me, and it was receiving a lot of positive attention on the book blogs I follow, so I ordered it from Amazon. I stuck it on my bookshelf when it arrived and haven't looked at it since. As this is the year that I'm attempting to read all of the nonfiction I currently own, I decided to give it a try now.

This novel is a cross between a standard biography and a beautifully illustrated picture book. It tells the life story of Marie Curie, the famous physicist and chemist who discovered the elements radium and polonium. Redniss includes information about Curie's professional and personal life, as well as short explanations of the scientific concepts she studied. Additionally, small excerpts are inserted throughout the story describing how Curie's discoveries impacted the world after her death. Nuclear power, the atomic bomb, space travel, and many more examples are highlighted, emphasizing how monumental and important her work was. Each page in the novel is accented with stunning illustrations that serve to keep the reader completely engaged in the story.

Visually, this book is unlike anything else I have ever read. Each page is a beautiful work of art that invites you to linger as you read, admiring the details of the pictures. The illustrations are done in an interesting style, more quirky than "pretty," and they feel completely appropriate to the tone and topic of the story. Alongside the illustrations, photographs and documents are included too, and the contrast between the different forms of media is striking to look at. I was impressed with everything I saw, right down to the type of paper that it was printed on (nice and thick).  I loved reading, touching, and looking at this. The cover even glows in the dark in a tribute to the strange, otherworldly glow of radium.

The text itself is very well-written. There's quite a bit of it too-- the book isn't completely pictures. I learned a lot throughout my reading, and I developed a deep appreciation for Curie as a person and as a scientist. She was a woman of many impressive firsts. She was the first woman to be a professor at the Sorbonne, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only person to win two Nobel Prizes, the only person to win her Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, and the first woman to be entombed in the Paris Panthéon on her own merits. Her intelligence and courage are awe inspiring. She worked to further scientific achievement right up until she died, even though she knew it was her work that was killing her. I don't know if I could have continued doing work that was literally destroying my body, but Curie persevered. She was a truly remarkable woman, and Radioactive did an excellent job of conveying that.

This novel was more than just a nonfiction text. It was an experience. I absolutely fell in love with Radioactive and an going around recommending it to everyone I know like a crazy person. This has become a new favorite for me and I can't wait to explore Lauren Redniss' other works. My year of trying to read more nonfiction has started off brilliantly.


Challenge Tally:
True Books 2018: 1/18

Total Books Read in 2018: 3

Reading Resolutions: 2018 Edition!

It's really cool to be able to say that I've kept up with my blogging for two whole years now. I'm to the point where reading something without blogging about it right afterwards just feels wrong. I basically have to continue on with my planning and blogging into the new year for mental health purposes.

In 2018, I plan to continue on with some of the challenges I participated in last year, along with a few of my own design. Here's the plan:

Goodreads Goal: Read 50 books

In 2017, I set my goal at 76 books. I ended up surpassing it, but it was stressful sometimes. I had to stick to mostly shorter books to meet this goal. This year, I want to give myself the chance to try some longer books. Accordingly, I set a lower goal. If I end up reading more, great! The point is to avoid self-imposed pressure.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2018: I have participated in this challenge for the past two years, and I always have a blast doing it. I've already planned out my reads for this one. Here is my signup post.

Classics Club Challenge: This is a challenge that asks participants to select and read several classic novels over a five year time period. This will be my second year whittling down my list. I need to read 20 novels from it to stay on track. I hope to do a bit better than that though. My complete list is here.

True Books 2018: This is a challenge that I created for myself. The goal of it is to read more nonfiction books in the new year. I love to read nonfiction, but I tend to automatically reach for fiction when left to my own devices. I created a list of all the nonfiction novels I have sitting on my shelves and I'm going to try and read them all in 2018. Here's my list.

Clear the Shelves 2018: This is another challenge that I created for myself. In the fall of 2018, I will be moving across the country to Connecticut. I have a lot of books on my shelves and I don't want to end up moving them all. For this challenge, I will to try and power through a whole bunch of my backlog so that I can donate the ones I don't want to keep before I leave. I will be keeping a list of what I donate here.

These challenges should be enough to keep me busy throughout the year. The new year will be a year of big changes for me. I'm hoping that this reading will help keep my mind focused and calm through the stresses that will inevitably pop up.

True Books 2018 Goal List

One of my reading resolutions for 2018 is to read more nonfiction. I really do like informational texts, but I tend to grab fiction first when picking things to read. To that end, I've created a challenge for myself that I've dubbed the "True Books 2018 Challenge."

I looked through all of my books and created a list of all the nonfiction novels that I own, but haven't read yet. My challenge is to read them all before the end of 2018. I will return here to link up reviews as I go.

1. Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin - Completed February 2018
2. Radioactive by Lauren Redniss - Completed January 2018
3. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson - Completed May 2018
4. True Notebooks by Mark Salzman - Completed March 2018
5. Radium Girls by Kate Moore - Completed January 2018
6. This is Dali by Catherine Ingram / Dali by Christopher Masters
7. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery - Completed March 2018
8. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - Completed March 2018
9. So We Read On by Maureen Corrigan
10. The Reading Promise by Alice Ozman - Completed May 2018
11. The Witches by Stacy Schiff
12. Under the Affluence by Tim Wise
13. Truevine by Beth Macy
14. Real Food/Fake Food by Larry Olmsted
15. Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill
16. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
17. Animal Wise by Virginia Morell
18. Eat and Run by Scott Jurek
19. The End of your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
20. Books for Living by Will Schwalbe

*Bonus Books*

1. Born Round by Frank Bruni - Completed January 2018
2. 10% Happier by Dan Harris - Completed January 2018 

If I manage to make it through all of these books in 2018, it will be the most nonfiction that I've ever read in one calendar year. I think that would be pretty cool...and educational.